


Heart-Lifting

by rain_sleet_snow



Category: Primeval
Genre: During Canon, F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 07:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13453314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_sleet_snow/pseuds/rain_sleet_snow
Summary: Blade and Lorraine are stuck in a lift, which would probably be more fun if they actually knew each other. And if they weren't counting on the unreliable Oliver Leek to summon help to get them out.





	Heart-Lifting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knitekat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitekat/gifts).



Blade had already known Miss Wickes was not a talkative woman. She had introduced herself when the time came to move everything into the shiny second-hand building Lester had pinched from under someone else's nose, but apart from that she hadn't said two words to anyone but the administrative staff. Possibly because she always seemed to be busy, and at least half of what she always seemed to be busy with was somebody else's job. Mostly, Lyle had already told Major Ryan, Oliver Leek's.

That was her own business. But it did make Lyle, and Major Ryan, and (at the end of the day) Blade wonder what Oily Ollie was doing with the extra time, if he wasn't doing his job. Lorraine Wickes certainly didn't seem keen to explain, if indeed she knew, and - while Blade was aware that his social skills weren’t great - this definitely wasn’t a good time to ask.

He slid back into the lift. If this were a superhero movie he would now be climbing up the lift shaft to wrench open a door or two, but Blade considered that that would be a waste of time and effort.

"We're pretty stuck, miss," he said, as his feet touched the floor. Miss Wickes had tucked herself into a corner, out of the way, and had pulled a slim, much-thumbed book from her handbag. Blade automatically squinted to read the title. 

_ Howl's Moving Castle _ . He'd never heard of it.

"I called Norman," Miss Wickes said, closing her book on her thumb, "who didn't make much sense, and I'm afraid Jenny's phone went straight to voicemail." Her lips closed tight. "I understand from Oliver that she is very busy. Wrangling worms."

"Lucky her," said Blade, for lack of anything else to say, and was out of proportion pleased with the little smile that lit her face. She was pretty when she wasn't pretending to be a statue. He took a risk, based on the way her face had shuttered when she'd talked about Oliver Leek. "I hope one of the worms she's busy wrangling is Mr Leek."

He got a proper grin from that, and smiled back at her on pure instinct.

"Professionalism forbids me to comment," she replied, at the same time as her grin informed Blade that she hoped Jenny was in the process of removing Oily Ollie's head and burying it at the nearest crossroads. Since the nearest crossroads gave onto a dual carriageway this would be a challenge, but Blade had faith in Miss Lewis. 

"Either way," Blade said. "We're going to be here a while. I hope you don't mind small spaces."

"No," Miss Wickes said, very simply. She was toying with her book, folding the corner of the page over and smoothing it back. Blade slid down to the floor himself and absent-mindedly checked the location of all his knives, expecting that she had finished speaking, and was surprised out of all proportion when she spoke again. "And the company could be worse."

He stared at her, and somewhat belatedly read her tone. She'd made a joke.

Miss Wickes, who never opened her mouth except to say something practical or relay an instruction, was _teasing_  him.

"Any time, Miss Wickes," he said. "D'you think Mr Leek will have told anyone what happened?"

Norman definitely had his moments, but Miss Wickes was right. They couldn't be sure he'd understood her.

"Ordinarily I would say no," Miss Wickes said, "and please call me Lorraine - but I'm supposed to be minuting Mr Lester's meeting with the Home Secretary right now, and now Oliver will have to do it instead, so I suspect our... captivity... will be noticed quite soon."

Blade guessed it would probably take forty-five minutes to rescue them at the inside, and could even take longer, depending on how complicated the fault was. And while he was perfectly prepared to spend that time sitting in boredom, he didn't see why he should do it if he didn't have to.

He went through his pockets and pulled out a pack of cards. "D'you play cards, m- Lorraine?"

"Badly," Lorraine said. A curl of something twitched at the corner of her mouth. "And I don't know a lot of games. I need practice."

"No time like the present," Blade replied. Something answering was pulling at the corner of his own lips.

He didn't try to ask himself what it was.


End file.
